The movie industry is currently rife with adaptations from respected franchises and with the recent embrace of Pokemon Go, Pikachu could be set for a starring role.

Variety has reported that a Pokemon movie is moving swiftly along the pipeline, with Nicole Perlman and Alex Hirsch currently in negotiations to pen the screenplay.

Perlman has previously written fantasy scripts such as Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel. While Hirsch has had success as creator of Gravity Falls.

The co-writers are reported to be in negotiations as Legendary seeks to fast track development to capitalize on the phenomenal worldwide success of the Pokemon Go virtual reality game.

The live-action franchise film is not expected to be based exclusively on the Pokemon Go game, instead it will focus on the premise of the Detective Pikachu game, a joint venture between Legendary and The Pokemon Company.

Despite initial despair from cynics, the Pokemon Go game took hold and it has reignited its position as a cultural icon. It succeeded in appealing to both the new crop of millennials and the nostalgic generation that grew up with the original cartoon, who once tried their best to ‘catch ‘em all’ by wildly gesticulating at their TV screen. Legendary aims to harness Pokemon’s revitalized popularity by quickly fast tracking this project into development.

As an animé cartoon that originated in Japan in the early nineties, a live-action franchise movie stands a considerable chance at penetrating the vast Asian market. Further details are yet to be announced but if executed correctly, Legendary could be priming itself to create an extremely lucrative fantasy universe.